Apollo 8

The first human visit to lunar orbit

Distance traveled

932,787 km

Launch Date

21 Dec 1968

Landing Date

27 Dec 1968

Destination

Lunar orbit

With Apollo 8, humans broke free of Earth orbit for the first time. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders became the first humans in space to lose sight of their home world and gaze upon the lunar farside. Later, they witnessed Earth rising above the lunar surface, snapping the Earthrise photo that marked a profound shift in human perspective. The mission demonstrated astronauts could ride the Saturn V rocket to space, enter and depart from lunar orbit, and return safely to Earth, all crucial milestones toward the 1969 Moon landing.

NASA

Liftoff of Apollo 8

On the morning of 21 Dec 1968, Borman, Lovell and Anders blasted off from Kennedy Space Center.

"After the vehicle was released, the noise in the cockpit got very loud," Borman recalled later of the mighty Saturn V. "Effective crew communication was impossible. The last call that I heard was a faint 'tower clear' call by the LOM (Launch Operations Manager)."

Despite the noise, the crew reported a smooth flight, and just twelve minutes later, Apollo 8 was safely orbiting the Earth. During the second orbit, the rocket’s third stage ignited again, blasting humans out of Earth orbit and on to the Moon for the very first time.

NASA

Apollo 8 crew

The crew of Apollo 8 stands in front of the Apollo Mission Simulator at Kennedy Space Center. From left: Jim Lovell, William Anders, Frank Borman.

On 24 December, the crew passed behind the Moon and fired the service module's engines for four minutes, injecting them into lunar orbit. Another burn at the end of the second orbit placed the spacecraft into a circular orbit, 113 kilometers above the surface. On the fourth orbit, as the crew rolled their spacecraft to take panoramic photographs of the surface — including potential landing sites — Anders noticed the Earth rising above the horizon.

"Oh, my God! Look at that picture over there!” Anders said. “Here's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!"

Anders snapped a monochrome picture of the Earthrise, while Lovell scrambled for a color film magazine. Anders then took two more color shots, the first of which became one of the most famous images of all time.

NASA / Seán Doran

Earthrise

When Apollo 8 astronauts Bill Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell rounded the farside of the Moon, they became the first humans to witness an Earthrise above an alien surface. The iconic image was first published on 30 December 1968.

After a total of 10 orbits and 20 hours around the Moon, the crew fired their service module engine for 3 minutes, putting Apollo 8 on course for home. Splashdown occurred on 27 December in the Pacific Ocean.